The book apparently is far from closed on Allison Schmitt's illustrious swim career.

After a lengthy hibernation from the pool, the 2008 Canton High grad with eight Olympic medals, including four gold, is thriving once again in the water following last week's Phillips 66 USA Swimming National Championships in Irvine, Calif.

The 28-year-old will be one of the U.S. team's elder stateswomen when she heads to the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, Aug. 23-27, in Toyko, Japan, which ironically is the site of the next Summer Olympic Games in 2020.

After finishing runner-up to Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky in the 200-meter freestyle with her seventh-best time ever (1:55.82), along with a sixth in the 100 freestyle (54.24) behind another Olympic gold medalist Simon Manuel, Schmitt is serving notice once again that she's not ready for the rocking chair quite yet.

"I'm excited to be representing the U.S. again and to make the team this summer it definitely sets up for two years from now," Schmitt said. "Like I said, ever since I started jumping back into the water . . . I don't want any what ifs. And if I do happen to be sitting on the couch in 2020 and not making the team, then I know that I gave everything I had. I'm currently enjoying the journey. So it's all about the journey right now. I have nothing else to prove in swimming, but I'm doing this for myself."

Following the 2016 Games in Rio and her third Olympics, Schmitt was more than ready to hang it up. But in January, while in the midst of working on her Masters degree in social work at Arizona State, Schmitt began to feel a magnetic pull back into the pool.

Allison Schmitt will represent the U.S. in the 19-nation Pan Pacific Championships, Aug. 23-27 in Tokyo, Japan.(Photo: USA SWIMMING)

And it just so happened that her old coach at Club Wolverine and the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, Bob Bowman, was now coaching at Arizona State, was right around the corner. Her brother Derek was also a member of the coaching staff at Pitchfork Aquatics in Tempe.

"I didn't touch the water for over a year," said Schmitt. "In the fall, when I started school in 2017, I was like, 'Well, I need to get into some kind of shape. I need to get a tan,' and so I decided to swim again with the (ASU) team two or three times a week. Then they'd ask me if I was coming to practice the next day and I was like, 'Whatever, I mean, I'll come, I don't have anything else to do.' I gradually got back into the sport and started doing more practices, started getting faster."

In April, Schmitt swam in the TYR Pro Series in nearby Mesa, Ariz. She also competed in another TYR event in July in Columbus, Ohio (placing second in 1:57.21 in the 200 free) before heading to Irvine to take on the nation's best.

"I definitely didn't see results for a few months," Schmitt said. "That part is very hard to continue when you don't see any results, nothing is getting better. Just being able to stick with it and have the support system that got me through those times. And now I'm starting to see some progression and I know there's a lot more work to be done in these next two years, but this is a great start . . . "

Canton's Allison Schmitt swims the 200-meter freestyle during the TYR Pro Swim Series on April 12 at Skyline Aquatic Center in Mesa, Ariz.(Photo: Patrick Breen/azcentral sports)

During the U.S. Nationals, which is a long course event, Schmitt also added a ninth in the 400 freestyle (4:08.46). But her time of 1:55.82 in the 200 freestyle, her signature event where she won an individual gold in 2012 (London Olympics), is currently the fourth fastest time this season in the world.

"I really didn't have expectations for Nationals," Schmitt said. "Being out of the sport for three years you really can't have expectations of what you had before. Everything is different now."

In another irony, Schmitt's first dip into the international swimming waters came during the infant stages of her career in Japan. And now she's there again with the possibility of joining an elite group of U.S. female swimmers that have competed in four Olympics.

"I'm looking forward to going out there and racing, and I have goals for the future," Schmitt said. "I feel we're on the right path of that, so I'm just excited to represent the U.S. again having that opportunity to represent the U.S. and I'm ready to race again internationally. I know there's tough competition out there, so just being able to stand there with the world's best is awesome."

Schmitt's bouts with depression have been well documented. She has become a spokesperson for childhood mental illness along with her longtime club teammate Michael Phelps, the sport's greatest Olympian.

The former NCAA All-American never envisioned continuing her education after graduating from the University of Georgia in 2013. But now she's back in the fast lane, juggling training and school with a new post-swim career path in mind.

"I want to go into counseling, I want to specifically work with athletes that have mental illnesses, depression and anxiety," Schmitt said. "I had no interest in going back to school when I finished (at Georgia). And in 2016 I wasn't really sure what I could do with a psychology degree, and I also had a huge passion in mental health, which led me to the social work now. If you would have ask me four years ago if I'd go back to school or go into counseling, I never thought this is where I would be. I guess all the events and experiences that have taken place over the few years have led me to social work. A lot of it is putting together my experiences.

During the U.S. Nationals, the ever popular Schmitt was her bubbly self, waving, smiling to the crowd. In the staging area prior to her races, she normally listens to "something always country" on her headphones, but this meet she changed up her selection for the big 200 freestyle event while earning a hug afterwards from Ledecky, the world's top female swimmer.

Her parents, Ralph and Gail, were in the stands at the William Wollett Aquatics Center in Irvine to show their support. With her brother Derek and the Phelps family nearby during her new journey in Tempe, 'Schmitty' has taken a liking to the desert.

"I'm from a big family, a middle child of five, so it's awesome to still have family," she said. "I get to live in Arizona, go to school, train there. It's far from home, far from where I grew up and my parents, and just to be able to have family out there is awesome to have that comfort every day. I'm so happy how successful he (Derek) is in coaching and how far he has come the past few years."

After Rio, Schmitt didn't turn in her retirement papers. And it appears the Allison Schmitt biography has a few new chapters yet to be completed.